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Monday, May 30, 2005

The French NO to Europe: Exit polls revealing

Yesterday I was writing that "resentidos sociales" can be found elsewhere than Venezuela, and it seems in large amounts in France. The editorial of Serge July in Liberation is as bitter as it can get for a supporter of the OUI: Masochistic masterpiece. I will like to point out, before you read my translation of the first paragraph, that Liberation is a major newspaper for the French left and cannot be accused to be weak in front of "neoliberalism". But it is also a paper that understands how good Europe is overall for France.

It is screams of pain, of fear, of anxiety and of anger that the leftist electorate has made through the ballot, on the occasion of the referendum, in front of the mad race of the world and in front of the carelessness of the men that have been ruling us for more than two decades. As it is in such cases there was a need for leaders of the moment to feed this national despair. Some have pushed up the ante in the clumsiness, others in the shameless lies. At the finish line, a general disaster and a pandemic of populism which carries all on its wake, the European construction, the enlargement of Europe, the elites, the control of liberalism, the reform movement, the internationalism, even generosity.

Sounds familiar? That need to overthrow a system at any cost, without regard to its consequences? As in a certain South American country in 1998 that shall remain nameless?

EXIT POLLS

This morning I was reading the exit polls of IPSOS in France (apparently people do trust Exit Polls in France and they match the results of referendum which is not the case in Venezuela we have been told by the Carter Center). A few highlights:

MOTIVATION TO VOTE

Motivation for voting NON: the French situation. People voted no to Europe to bitch about their own little personal problems at home.

Motivation to vote OUI: the need to unite Europe in front of the US and Chinese challenge.

WHO VOTED NON

Those outside of Paris. The less than 60 years of age. Public sector workers. Left held trade unions. Workers, agrarian sector. Artisans split even.

High school or less.

The extreme left. The left but more than 40 % of socialists and greens did manage to vote for the Oui.

The extreme right of Le Pen at 93%. The conservative right of anti abortion and "old France" values at 73%.

WHO VOTED OUI

Paris (cosmopolitanism?). The more than 60 year old (War memories?). The professional sectors. The students. Business leaders and shopkeepers split even.

Some college and more.

The ruling right though more than 20% voted Non.

Conclusion?

From this exit polls we can see that clearly the people with less education and less sense of controlling their future are the ones that voted NON. These are the people that always fall prey of populist ideas and leadership. Be it in France or Venezuela or anywhere else for that matter.

PS: and after this little parenthesis I shall be back soon on Venezuela. But I could not help to meditate on how countries have that autodestroy button pushed on...

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